Ricciardo unhappy to settle for third

Daniel Ricciardo says he is disappointed to have finished just third after his late charge at Monaco meant he crossed the line just four tenths behind Lewis Hamilton.

Ricciardo had a poor start and was beaten into Ste Devote by Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, but later benefited from the misfortune of both. Team-mate Vettel was forced into an early retirement while Raikkonen suffered a puncture while being unlapped by Max Chilton under the Safety Car, moving Ricciardo back into third.

Ricciardo had a quiet race until the latter stages as he came into his own, at times lapping 1.5s quicker than Hamilton as he got the most out of his tyres and the Mercedes driver struggled with his vision, and he says he had one mind on a late charge throughout the afternoon.

"You don't push for most of the race because after the first pit stop there is still a long way to go," Ricciardo said. "So you're in two minds about whether you should push or hold the guy up behind. With about 15 or 20 laps to go I knew that the tyres would last so I started to set some quicker times. I knew that I could catch him but knowing that it's difficult to pass here I was just waiting to see what happens. I wasn't going to just settle for third, even though that's where I finished."

Ricciardo thinks the race is the same story as qualifying, where he felt Red Bull "left something on the table" after failing to take the fight to Mercedes.

"It's very nice to be up here. Could we have done better? I don't know. I felt that yesterday that we left a little bit of lap-time out there but after that in the race itself the start was not good and I dropped back to fifth and then Sebastian had his problems and he was slow on the straights.

"After that there was the safety car and I was pretty much just trying to maintain the gap behind me to Alonso. Then when I thought that there was enough [of a gap] I started to push and I got closer to the Mercedes at the end but around here it's so difficult to pass so I just tried to put pressure on Lewis."